


Never and Always

by wisdomeagle



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Birthday, Drinking, Drinking Games, F/M, Never Have I Ever, Party Games, Revelations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-02-20
Updated: 2005-02-20
Packaged: 2018-02-10 12:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2025390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisdomeagle/pseuds/wisdomeagle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A game leads to a revelation, which leads a question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never and Always

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chanceofrainne](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=chanceofrainne).



> Written for the [Giles's Birthday Ficathon](http://www.livejournal.com/users/phendog/129170.html).

"We should do something," said Xander. "Not that sitting around doing nothing isn't a great way to celebrate Giles's birthday, but --"

"More fun than having his friends turn into demons, which is what we did for my birthday," said Buffy.

"A game," Xander persisted. "Who's up for a rousing game of Never Have I Ever?"

"I remember that game!" said Willow. Then she frowned. "I was always left with all my fingers up."

"Well, hey, Will, guess what? Now that you're a big girl, there will be no more fingers, up _or_ down. Only shots."

"Ooh, alcohol?" Anya perked up. "Giles, may I get out the alcohol?"

"Fine," Giles said with a sigh. He understood Buffy's desire to throw birthday party for him, and he was flattered in a sense by the attention, but spending so much time around his -- younger friends -- still made him feel old.

Anya skipped happily to Giles's liquor cabinet, and Giles sighed again at the thought of all the children knowing its contents as well as they knew the contents of their own.

"How many are drinking?" asked Anya, expertly balancing two bottles of vodka and one of triple sec while she searched for glasses.

Buffy, who was sitting beside Giles, quickly stood up and did a headcount. "Willow and Tara are two, Xander and Anya make four, and me and Giles make six. Six, Anya!"

"I did hear you. You didn't need to repeat yourself."

Buffy sat back down with a huff, and Giles touched her shoulder gently. She seemed to relax instantly at his touch.

"All right," Anya finally said. "I found lime juice in your refrigerator."

"Kamikazes," said Xander. "An excellent choice."

Giles watched Willow whisper to Tara, and when Tara smiled tightly, he understood that she'd been explaining the rules of the game.

"Okay, then," said Xander. "Everyone pour yourself a shot -- or does someone want to tend bar?"

"That's a fine idea, honey. You do that," Anya directed. Xander sighed and patted Anya's shoulder, then set about pouring the drinks.

It was then that it occurred to Giles that he might want to request some rules for the game, as well. "Buffy," he muttered, "what exactly is...?"

"I'll explain," she whispered back, then, in her Listen-To-Me-I'm-The-Slayer voice, she said, "So, guys, rules? On your turn, you say, like, 'I've never done so-and-so,' and then if you've actually done that thing, you take a drink. So Xander might say 'I've never been a vampire slayer,' and then I'd take a shot. And slug him. Okay?"

Everyone nodded and Giles, a bit confused, took his tumbler from Xander.

"I'll go first," Buffy announced. "I've never had a cavity."

"Boring," said Xander, downing his shot. Giles downed his too, and handed his glass back to Xander for a refill.

"I've never seen Rocky Horror," said Willow. Then, as an afterthought, "I was always scared of the virgin deflowering ritual."

"It's really not so bad," said Anya, taking a drink. "Amusing, really. Although I once condemned a man to watch it every weekend as a virgin for all eternity. He'd cheated on his wife with the woman who played Janet."

"Very apt," said Giles, and he and Buffy killed their shots in unison.

"I never attended a high school graduation," Anya volunteered smugly, and grinned as the rest of them drank.

"I've never k-kissed a boy," said Tara quietly. As Giles drank, he noted Xander's pointed refusal even to touch his glass.

"And I've never kissed a girl," Buffy said.

"It's not your turn," Anya groused.

"It's true, though."

Giles drank.

"Does it have to have been a human girl?"

"Demons count," said Buffy, and Xander drank.

"Well, what about women? What if it was a very elderly female demon?"

Willow and Tara shared a grin as they downed their shots.

"Have you actually kissed an elderly female demon?" Buffy rejoined.

"I refuse to share. Xander doesn't like to hear about my past lovers."

Giles stopped the impending argument by saying, "I've never been an American citizen." The children all drank, though Anya was especially smug as she did so.

"I've never failed a test," said Xander, which caused Willow to do a double take. She shot him a quizzical look, but he only grinned.

Buffy drank with a good-natured shrug and muttered, "Driving tests are so unfair." So did Anya, who was looking a bit tipsy. Giles hesitated, remembered the Cruciamentum, and took his drink. It burned going down.

Anya, clearly miffed that Buffy had gotten an unfair turn, said, "I've never been infatuated with a teacher."

Xander made a bit of a fuss about how preying mantis demons didn't count, but eventually took a drink. Then Willow, who'd been cradling her shot, said, "Do librarians count?" Giles felt himself flush and hardly noticed Tara unobtrusively drink her vodka.

Buffy took a deep breath and said, "Do Watchers?" And then, "What if it's more than just infatuation?" Giles couldn't look at her face when she said, "And what if it's requited?"

Xander, who'd been in the middle of refilling Tara's drink, dropped the bottle as shock registered on his face. Giles suddenly wasn't sure what to do with his hands; touching Buffy in the presence of her friends felt awkward now.

"How about, I've never had a crush on Giles?" Xander said, starting to pick up pieces of glass from the floor. "Or, I've never hidden an important relationship from my friends?"

"What about Faith?" asked Willow, more bitter than Giles had ever heard her.

"Sweetie, it's okay," he heard Tara say, and then he felt Buffy's hand on his back.

"Let's go," she said. "Upstairs." Giles knew that their sudden departure now would only necessitate unpleasant discussions in the morning, but their further presence at the moment wouldn't help matters.

"Fine," he said. "Goodnight, Willow, Xander. Anya, would you put my triple sec away?"

"Absolutely," said Anya, still grinning. Giles realized she was drunk.

"H-h-happy birthday, Mr. Giles."

"Thank you, Tara," Giles said, smiling faintly. Buffy's arm slid around his waist, and they walked upstairs together.

When they were safely ensconced in his bedroom, Buffy sat down on Giles's bed and started shaking. Giles recognized this mood: when she came home from a particularly difficult patrol, especially when she'd been injured or if the vampire had gotten away, Buffy would sit on his bed and quiver, momentarily weak. It always passed after a few moments, but it still unnerved him to see his Slayer helpless. He put an arm around her shoulder instinctively.

"I'm sorry I ruined your party," said Buffy.

"Not to worry," he said. "It, er, wasn't a very exciting party to begin with."

"I guess not," Buffy sniffed. "But I thought it would be more fun than our usual."

"Chocolate ice cream and Sleepy Lawn Cemetery? What better way to celebrate another year of not dying in Sunnydale?"

Buffy smiled and inched closer to him. "I wanted us to do something different this year." She leaned her head onto his chest, and Giles held her tighter. "Because things are different with us, you know? I didn't want us doing Slayer-Watcher stuff when we could be doing Buffy-Giles things."

"I know."

"Do you think the guys will be permanently scarred?"

Giles considered the question. He knew what he was to Buffy's friends: a grown-up, a teacher, someone on the edge of their lives but not part of it. He'd felt shards of the vodka bottle crunch beneath his feet as they'd walked to the stairs; he wondered if Xander would be watching the bottle shatter in his dreams tonight. Nor had he forgotten the look on Willow's face, or his own deep feeling of unease when Buffy had told her friends about their relationship.

"Things will change," he said. "They always do. But I do think they will come to understand."

Buffy frowned. "I wish they could understand now. I wish Xander wasn't mad at me. I mean, the guys didn't know about the ice cream and slayage tradition -- they didn't even know when your birthday was until I told them. I didn't mean to keep secrets from them." She pulled away from Giles and thrust her hands onto the bed angrily. "They _should_ understand. It's not like they're not in unconventional relationships! It's not like I wasn't accepting of Willow's girl-loving, or Xander's demon-loving."

"Buffy." He touched her hair gently. "Give them time. You were a bit upset yourself, after we first --"

"I wigged," she agreed. "But that was _different_." Giles nodded bemusedly. "We should talk about something else," Buffy said suddenly. "I keep on forgetting it's your birthday. I shouldn't be letting my trauma interfere with your happy day."

"Buffy, nothing you could ever do would..." He stopped. Upset him? Certainly. Grieve him? Puzzle him? Distress him? Often. Still. He took a deep breath. "Nothing you could do will ever lessen my love for you."

Buffy smiled at him, pure joy once again. With a smirk, she maneuvered for a kiss. An instant before their lips met, she whispered, "Happy birthday."

**Author's Note:**

> chanceofrainne requested season 4 or 5, B/G, a Buffy/Giles non-sex-related birthday tradition that Willow and Xander knew nothing about, kamikaze shots, a Rocky Horror Picture Show reference that does not involve Giles as Frank N Furter. No plotless fic or Riley.


End file.
